The CAA transferred safeguarding responsibilities to aerodromes in 2003. Revised legislation for England and Wales and for Scotland came into effect on 10 Feb 03 resulting in all licensed aerodromes now having to safeguard themselves. Furthermore, it is the advice of HM Government within that legislation that all aerodromes, licensed and unlicensed, should be safeguarded. Note that Northern Ireland has separate legislation
For those that are uncertain of the meaning of safeguarding or how it could affect them, we offer the following short definition. It is the control of land use in order to protect the airspace over and around an aerodrome against developments that could adversely affect safe operations. A fuller explanation can be found in the appropriate legislation.
Planning departments have paid lip service to this for way too long, in my opinion. I would love to see this accident act as precedent to a toughening of safeguarding legislation - after all there is plenty of other space left in the UK to build on. Building near airports is easy for developers as normally it is only the airfield that objects!
LJ